Buying in Silverleaf as a self-employed borrower means two numbers work against you at once: qualifying income an underwriter rebuilt downward from two years of tax returns, and a club obligation that hits your ratio while the initiation deposit you paid for it does not count toward your reserves. At Silverleaf price points, that combination is the difference between an approval and a decline.
Understand how each piece is treated and the file is very manageable. Walk in assuming your accountant's number is your qualifying number and it is not.
Your income, as underwriting builds it
Two years of filed returns, run through Fannie Mae Form 1084 or Freddie Mac Form 91. Your number and theirs are rarely close, and theirs buys the house.
- Schedule C: net profit line 31, plus depreciation, depletion and business use of home added back, minus non-recurring income, divided by 24.
- 1120S and K-1: W-2 wage counts. K-1 ordinary income counts only where distributions are documented and the business has liquidity to keep paying them. Short-term obligations subtract unless you evidence otherwise.
- 1065 and K-1: same, with guaranteed payments included.
- Schedule E: rental net with depreciation, taxes, insurance, interest and HOA added back where allowed, minus full PITIA.
The trade beneath all of it: every dollar of aggressive deduction saves tax at your marginal rate and costs roughly four to five dollars of buying power. And a year two lower than year one generally becomes your qualifying income rather than the average.
What Silverleaf adds
Silverleaf sits in the upper reaches of DC Ranch against the McDowell Mountains, running from the Horseshoe Canyon and Upper Canyon custom estates down through the village product, around a private Tom Weiskopf course. Three things make the underwriting distinct.
Super jumbo pricing tiers. Well above the conforming limit, guidelines tighten in steps rather than smoothly. Larger loan amounts commonly bring higher reserve requirements, tighter ratio tolerances, a second appraisal or desk review, and a narrower field of investors willing to lend at all. Guidelines vary meaningfully between those investors, which is the single strongest argument for a broker over one bank's shelf here. See Jumbo Loans in Scottsdale.
The club is an equity interest, not a monthly bill. This is the Silverleaf-specific item and the one that costs people approvals. A private equity club membership typically involves a substantial initiation deposit, often partially or fully refundable on resignation and frequently payable only when a new member fills your place on the list. Underwriting treats the pieces separately:
- Mandatory monthly dues and any food and beverage minimums are counted against your debt-to-income ratio as a recurring obligation, alongside the association dues.
- The initiation deposit is cash leaving your accounts, and because it is illiquid and not accessible on demand it generally does not count toward the reserve requirement.
- Recurring capital assessments behave like dues. One time assessments are cash to close.
So a buyer can write a very large check, remain entirely solvent, pass the income test, and still fail the reserve test, because the money is real but it is no longer where the guideline needs it. Full mechanics in How a Scottsdale Golf Club Membership Affects Your Mortgage Approval.
Membership structures and requirements vary and are revised over time. Get the club's current membership plan document and the community's governing documents in writing, and confirm whether membership is mandatory at your specific address.
Layered association obligations. Silverleaf sits within the broader DC Ranch master structure, so more than one association may bill the address. Ask how many, and what each charges, before you price the house. See HOA Dues, Club Dues and Assessments.
Appraisal risk is real here. Custom estates in Horseshoe Canyon and Upper Canyon transact infrequently and are highly individual. Comparable sales get thin, adjustments get large, and an appraiser reaching across dissimilar product produces a number nobody agrees with. Order it early and decide in advance what you would do if it comes in short.
The structures that work when the returns do not
Take the full documentation jumbo if your returns support it. Cheapest money available. When they do not, these exist, and none is a shortcut around qualifying. Each documents repayment capacity differently and each prices differently than agency financing.
Asset depletion or asset utilization. Qualifying income derived from verified liquid assets rather than earnings. Frequently the right instrument for a Silverleaf buyer whose wealth is in accounts and whose reportable income is modest. Retirement accounts typically discounted, pledged assets generally excluded.
Bank statement. Twelve or twenty four months of deposits with an expense factor applied, for the business owner whose returns are deducted down and whose deposit flow is consistent.
No-ratio. No debt-to-income test at all. Credit, assets, reserves and the property carry the file. This is the structure for the genuinely complex balance sheet, the borrower whose reportable income does not describe their financial position, and it is exactly the file that gets declined repeatedly by lenders whose only tool is a ratio calculation.
Before you write in Silverleaf
- Ask in writing whether club membership is mandatory at the address and whether an obligation transfers with the property.
- Get the club's current membership plan: initiation amount, refundability terms, dues, minimums, categories.
- Get every association's dues, the budget, the reserve study and any approved assessment.
- Count your reserves the way a lender will: after closing, at the applicable discount, excluding the initiation deposit and anything pledged or illiquid.
- Get your CPA and your lender in the same conversation, well before the returns that will qualify you are filed.
- Order the appraisal early and plan for a short value rather than reacting to one.
- Get fully underwritten, not pre-qualified. A pre-qualification is a calculator that has never seen your K-1 or your club dues. An underwritten pre-approval has seen both.
Why bring this file to us
- We read the returns ourselves, add-backs and all, before you go looking at houses.
- We ask about the club and the deposit on the first call, and we count your reserves excluding it, which is how the guideline will count them.
- Broker model. At super jumbo the investor field narrows and guidelines diverge. One bank's shelf gives you one answer. We can place the file where it fits.
- The full toolkit, full documentation jumbo through asset depletion, bank statement and no-ratio non-QM, chosen on the file rather than on inventory.
- You talk to the principal. Ricky Khamis is President of EPiQ Lending, NMLS #173141, lending in Arizona since 1999 and a 2025 Presidents Club Winner at CMG Home Loans. Direct line: (480) 999-9842.
EPiQ Lending is NMLS #1936984, at 7975 N. Hayden Road, Suite A-101 in Scottsdale. Verify all of it before you trust any of it: Ricky's EPiQ Lending profile, the Scottsdale branch, and the license itself at NMLS Consumer Access. Hold every lender to that standard, including us.
Send me two years of returns, your K-1 and the club's membership plan before you write in Silverleaf, and I will tell you what clears and on which structure.
Equal Housing Opportunity. This is general information, not a commitment to lend or an offer to extend credit. Club membership structures, initiation deposits, refundability terms, dues and association obligations vary and change over time; confirm current terms directly with the club and the association. Rates, terms, and program guidelines change and depend on credit approval, property appraisal, and other qualifying factors. Not all applicants will qualify. Non-QM and no-ratio financing carries different pricing and terms than agency financing. Consult your tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of any deduction or distribution strategy.
